Early on in Theater Camp, a lovingly observed comedy about a beleaguered performing arts summer camp, the power goes out during auditions, but not even total darkness can deter 15-year-old Christopher (Luke Islam) from nailing the final note of “Defying Gravity.” In a nearby kitchen, the camp cook soldiers on too, adding, by flashlight, a dollop of whiskey to the chili pot before taking a swig for herself. At Camp AdriondACTS, everyone’s on edge since it’s becoming clear that the camp isn’t likely to survive the illness that has beset founder Joan Rubinsky (Amy Sedaris), a malady triggered by an over-produced middle-school production of Bye Bye Birdie.
As the young Birdie lead, Sebastian (Alexander Bello), relates the story of Joan’s collapse to his riveted campmates, co-directors/co-writers Nick Lieberman and Molly Gordon (The Bear)–who also stars– cut away just as Sebastian states, “I obviously stayed in character.” Summer theater camp, no surprise, is filled with kids and adults who view staying in character as a core life philosophy, particularly the pathologically co-dependent Rebecca-Diane (Gordon) and Amos (co-writer Ben Platt), who spent their childhoods under Joan’s tutelage and now return each summer to teach and to write the summer musical. This year’s show will be an epic about Joan herself. Bringing this opus to life, Rebecca-Diane promises her adolescent cast, “will break you.”
Footage of Rebecca-Diane and Amos performing at AdriondACTS as kids is actually footage of Gordon and Platt in their days at a California performing arts studio for children. The filmmakers have all known each other since childhood. Platt and Noah Gavin, who plays Glenn, the camp’s secretly talented stage manager, also both starred in Dear Evan Hansen.
This quartet of friends has made a movie that might be classified as a “mockumentary,” but they clearly have too much love for the story’s setting to mock it, or satirize its subjects too…
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